soccer

World Cup

8:15 am

Mon June 16, 2014

The United States is taking on Ghana today in its first game of the World Cup. The two teams have only met twice before – and Ghana has won both times.

I was in Ghana earlier this year for a journalism exchange program sponsored by the U.S. State Department. There, I met Gary Al-Smith a journalist at Citi FM – who, though only in his 20’s, is considered his country’s foremost soccer – or football – expert.

It almost certainly won't solve the European sovereign debt crisis. But the way it's being framed, tomorrow's European Championship quarterfinal is starting to sound like its next chapter: Greece vs. Germany; austerity vs. stimulus; intact eurozone vs. one without Greece.

The Wall Street Journal reports that some have dubbed the game a "debt derby" that pits "the euro zone's most cash-strapped nation against its Teutonic task- and paymaster." The Journal adds: